I'm not sure how to begin this, so I'll just get straight to the topic. (This will contain spoilers) In my novel series, "Mages of the North" Elemental magic is the offensive school of magic that most mages use during fights with a few exceptions from the other schools of magic. A mage must choose their element from the start because it's very difficult, almost impossible to master two elements. Once an element gets in your blood it practically becomes a part of you.

A mage has the options of choosing these options: Fire, Ice, Wing, and Lightning, You might have noticed I missed one. Water. For reasons explained in the book, water magic has been lost for nearly ten-thousand years after the last remaining mages who had it were wiped out, and the magic being banned for many years after.It was banned for so long that the magic is believed to have been erased from existence because anyone who had the ability to use said magic was never taught how. This carried on for centuries to come, but the magic was ultimately declared an extinct form of magic.

SPOILER WARNING!!! One of the main cast inherited Water Elemental magic from a long distant ancestor and is eventually able to put it to use, becoming extremely powerful as he learns how to use his powers.

The problem I'm facing is...I don't know how I'm going to get him to this step. I don't want to go along with the typical "his power is controlled by his emotions" BS route. It's overdone, it's overstayed its welcome, that kind of writing needs to hit the road and move on.

I have thought of little subtle hints about the character having the ability. As they grow as a character, little things will happen that are dismissed as coincidences at first. Maybe the water sticks to them while they're getting a drink or bathing, or maybe they're able to form unusual ripples when they touch the surface of a body of water. Eventually, something happens that makes their power awaken within them, signifying a water mage walks the earth for the first time in thousands of years.

What would be some good ways to go about this

    Dalton_Reutlinger

    There are a lot of things you can do. First of all, they can’t be good at other forms of magic. Perhaps they feel like a failure because of this or are an outcast.

    Hinting at their powers can be as simple as them loving water. Maybe they like to swim and win contests for swimming events. They could also feel stronger in the rain or something like that. Water is everywhere, so you can be creative with it.

    Activating their powers can be trickier. If things require intense training, then it’s hard to explain them suddenly doing something crazy. I recommend starting small. Maybe their life is in danger while they are in the water, but they manage to eject themself from the water and don’t know how. They could also stop rain from getting them wet or something silly. Just make sure it’s a small thing, and I think it will go over well.

      Dalton_Reutlinger

      Well you could do one scene where the character falls into a dangerous river with heavy currents they are slowly drowning and trying to find a way to escape then they think to the water sticking to there skin and the other hints of water magic they know they have to use it to escape they don't want to a be a water mage they reject it but then the water around them starts moving it starts changing direction the character is trying with all there strength to change the direction of the water and then they get washed up onto land they survived but now they can't reject who they really are a water mage

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